Sue - I didn't mean that they didn't own the lighthouse, I meant that Pottawatomie does not have the Fresnel light that was in the lighthouse. It was removed years ago when the lantern room was removed from Pottawatomie and a modern beacon was put on a pole where the lantern room used to be. Then that was removed and nothing was there. The light was placed on a tower next to the lighthouse and is still being used.

So, there is no light to put in the restored beacon room. Harbour lights did donate one of their fresnel lights to use as an example to show in the lantern room. I am sure the Friends of Rock Island would love to have a real fresnel lens to put there.

Here is the story of the fresnel lens: Coast Guardsmen manned the station until 1944, automating the lighthouse in 1945 with a battery-powered flashing beacon. In the 1980’s the lantern room was disassembled, the lens removed and stored in a crate in the basement of the lighthouse. The lens has since disappeared. Its whereabouts is a mystery. A battery-powered beacon was placed on the lantern deck. In 1986, solar panels replaced the batteries. Three years later the Coast Guard with the aid of a helicopter, erected the present steel tower west of the dwelling and moved the beacon to it.

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I am sorry people are upset about the park fee, but our state is in a terrible budget crisis and Peninsula state park is a very beautiful park to be in. Park fees are the only way to afford upkeep of the park. I would hate to lose such a treasure.

When I was visiting New York last September we paid much more than $10.00 crossing bridges and going through tunnels!

Suzanne